Conferences
This page lists conferences that the Wycliffe Model United Nations team has attended, along with a brief review of each one. Bath International Schools' Model United Nations 2011 Kingswood School, 5th - 7th March For Wycliffe's second trip to Kingswood's MUN conference, we were given Madagascar and Turkey to represent. Nine students travelled to Bath to be a part of the conference, with experience ranging from this being their first conference to this being their fourth. Each student spent time during their half term putting together their resolutions (papers listing the steps that they would like to see in order to solve a current world issue). Once at the conference they had a frantic hour in order to garnish enough support from delegates of other schools. This gave them the chance to meet new students, to share their ideas, and to listen to advice from others about the solutions that they had proposed. The second day of the conference saw the debating beginning in earnest, with the resolutions with the most amount of support brought in front of the group for a vote. Before the voting procedures, students had the opportunity to make a five minute speech detailing why they would, or would not, agree with the resolutions. Public speaking is one of the hallmarks of the Model United Nations, and the training which it provides, and each student used this time to great effect to get their ideas across to their audiences. On the third day, the various groups were amalgamated into one large "General Assembly", and delegates were given a surprise situation to deal with. In this crisis situation, the Saudi government had been overthrown, and the doubling in oil prices had thrown much of the world's economy into disarray. The US had stepped in to control the oil fields and the surrounding Middle Eastern nations had reacted. Various solutions to the individual crises were suggested, including the forceful ejection of the US from the country and the insertion of special forces troops to rescue any stranded foriegn nationals. A great time was had by all throughout the conference, with particular congratulations going to newcomers Elliott Lee and Lewis Febery, for whom this was their first conference, and to Harry Cameron-Mowat and Hugo Cooke who received "Highly Commended Delegate" awards for their representations of Turkey in the Human Rights Committee and Madagascar in the Africa Committee respectively. Bristol Grammar School Model United Nations 2011 Bristol Grammar School, 12th February The BGSMUN is a one day event, designed with newer delegates in mind. Wycliffe was able to take three students, none of whom had been to a MUN conference before, as a delegation representing Egypt. The conference took place on the 12th February, the day following Mubarak's resignation from the Presidency of Egypt. The ability to take on roles of representatives from a country so recently thrown in to turmoil was both exciting and challenging. When planning what they would say and do at the conference, students were acting as if they worked for a dictator struggling to hold on to power. When presenting their ideas, they were under the rule of a military government led by General Tantawi. The Model United Nations is designed to get young people thinking about the world in which they live, and their place within it - the crisis in Egypt made this even more true. Throughout the course of the day, delegates were split up into various smaller committees, discussing and debating topics in order to come to a consensus on the best way forward. Wycliffe was represented on the Human Rights, Environment and Economical committees. Once each committee had come to its conclusion, each of the event's four hundred students congregated in a large hall for the General Assembly. In this, they were presented with a crisis for which no delegates had prepared: The shock mass emmigration of Mexicans into the United State's south. Needing to think on their feet in order to prevent mass panic and refugee food shortages, delegates had to quickly put together their ideas and present them infront of the entire Assembly. Lorentz Model United Nations, Arnhem 2010 "If in the years to come any man says to you 'I fought in Arnhem', take off your hat to him and buy him a drink, for this is the stuff of which England's greatness is made." - Alan Wood, Daily Express, 24 September 1944 Between the 7th and 11th November, eight of Wycliffe's Model United Nations team travelled to the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands to attend an international conference hosted by Lorentz Lyceum. Having impressed the conference organisers last year, Wycliffe was given the unparalleled honour of representing the United States during the three day event. This meant that the students were expected to lead the discussions from the very start and take an active role much more often than other delegates. Delegates were given a warm welcome to the conference right from the start, with a performance by Boom Chicago! being the highlight of the Opening Ceremony. The keynote speaker Shivant Jagroe - an expert in the field of international terrorism - spent some time educating the students about how the language that we use to define criminals and terrorists deeply influences the solutions that we can invent to deal with the problems and the deeper issues surrounding their crimes. Throughout the course of the conference, the students were treated to a number of workshops aimed at helping those new to the Model United Nations (the Wycliffe team comprised of four experienced students and four for whom this was their first MUN experience). In addition, each committee were treated to a prestigious guest speaker. Haileybury Model United Nations 2010 Haileybury & Imperial Service College, 19th - 21st March For our final conference of the year, Wycliffe attended Haileybury's 10th Annual MUN Conference near town of Hertford. Five students travelled to the event, this time representing the Dominican Republic and Botswana. Once more, this was a very well attended conference, with pupils from fourteen different nationalities present. Bath International Schools' Model United Nations 2010 Kingswood School, 5th - 7th March Over the weekend of the 5th – 7th March, the Wycliffe MUN were busy once again, this time taking part in the annual Bath International Schools’ Model United Nations conference at Kingswood School. This event promised to be larger and much more competitive than anything that the team had seen so far this year and expectations were high from the start. 700 students from as far away as Scotland, Germany and California were taking part in the proceedings to discuss measures to look after the environment and the world’s economic stability. The team from Wycliffe were responsible for Lithuania, Netherlands and Mauritania, three countries being our largest number to date. After spending the week preparing their resolutions, the students arrived at the conference on Friday evening to start the first stage – Lobbying. Congratulations must go to first-time delegate Hugo Cooke who managed to gather enough support for his resolution (which was based primarily around Mauritania’s sand exports) within a record-breaking five minutes. Saturday saw other resolutions debated and voted upon, with Wycliffe students submitting valuable amendments to ensure their countries viewpoints were adequately represented. Fergus Menendez shot to notoriety for convincing his entire committee to support his notion of giving free livestock to eligible farmers across the world, and then proceeding to evict all the countries that opposed the scheme. In Sunday’s sessions, the delegates were surprised with some ‘crisis’ situations. Rapid growth in the locust population of Niger had caused widespread famine. The students were required to think on their feet to propose solutions to the issues and gain support for their ideas without the weeks of research and preparation that they were used to. Congratulations should go to all the students who took part, including Catherine Vaughton and Jessica Noel for whom this was their first conference. We would like to thank the organising committee at Kingswood School for making the event a very worthwhile experience. A special mention of thanks to the Worlock family for their continued support and for donating so generously to the Model UN at Wycliffe. Lorentz Lyceum Model United Nations Arnhem, 2009 Arnhem, 8th - 12th October Wycliffe MUN was off again from 8th to 12th October, this time much further afield. Lorentz Lyceum hosted a Model United Nations conference in the Dutch city of Arnhem. Schools from Holland, Denmark, Germany and Palestine attended and this year Wycliffe was the only school from England to make the journey. As such, we were given the honour of representing the home nation, Netherlands, as well as Indonesia in the debates. Pupils covered topics ranging from ‘Oil at the North Pole’ and ‘Technology in Education’ to ‘Genetically Modified Crops’ and ‘The Dangers of the Internet’. The LMUNA conference started with a very impressive opening ceremony featuring the comic talents of internationally renowned ‘Boom Chicago’ and the keynote speaker, the electronic justice and privacy specialist, Annemarie Sprokkereef. The conference itself was composed of workshops teaching ‘Resolution Writing’ and ‘Public Speaking’, together with guest speakers. The Disarmament Committee was treated to a talk by the Ambassador from Cameroon and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Martin Ewi. As Model UN conferences are held entirely in English, Wycliffe pupils found themselves with a major advantage and took leading roles in every committee. Rory Gordon was featured on the front page of the conference’s internal newspaper and was ‘promoted’ to Israel’s place on the Security Council. Fergus Menendez, Patrick Price and Tom White all had resolutions passed by the General Assembly on the subjects of ‘Use of Renewable Energy’, 'Chemical Weapons’ and ‘Natural Disaster Warning Systems’ respectively. Cheadle Hulme Model United Nations 2009 Chealde Hulme School, October Wycliffe has been taking pupils to Model United Nations (MUN) conferences for the last few years and the MUN has grown in popularity with record numbers of pupils joining the group; the Wycliffe MUN meets weekly to research in preparation for conferences and to practise debating skills. The term has been very busy already, with a conference at Cheadle Hulme School taking place on 2nd and 3rd October. Nine pupils travelled to the school where they would play the part of delegates representing Angola and the Ukraine. Delegates were separated into various committees discussing Politics, the Environment, Economics, Disarmament and Human Rights. Over two days, issues were discussed and debated, with all delegates moving towards common goals with their cooperative skills (or enjoying themselves through disagreements and their competitive skills). Wycliffe pupils were debating alongside more experienced schools but nonetheless managed to make a few notable contributions. A good time was had by all but especially those pupils who were attending their first conference. Congratulations should go to Rory Gordon in Year 9 who was given the ‘Best Young Delegate Award’ for his work on the Human Rights Committee. Cheadle Hulme Model United Nations 2008 During 2008, Wycliffe Students at both the Prep and Senior schools took part in an Inter-School activity known as the Model United Nations. Wycliffe is the only school in Gloucestershire to take part in this activity. It involves schools applying to be delegations representing countries in a simulation of the debating and activities of the United Nations proper. To participate effectively in these simulations, students must research both their allocated country and that country’s policies on issues including Blood Diamonds, Child Soldiers, Trans-boundary pollution and safeguarding the peaceful use of outer space. Category:Main Pages